


Kiss, Kiss, Fall in Love!

by cairistiona13



Series: Mount Halla School of Witchcraft [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Magic, Awkward Kissing, Boys Kissing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Ferrets, First Kiss, Fluff, Frottage, Kissing, M/M, Party, Party Games, Rough Kissing, Underage Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 16:07:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18553165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cairistiona13/pseuds/cairistiona13
Summary: When Jae’s bottle spins back round to Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo is expecting to be asked to kiss a boy as well. Not about to be cowed, he says, “Dare,” and waits for his sentence.Jae looks around the circle with careful eyes, and then turns in his seat to look around at who’s in the room. He seems to find a choice he likes, because he spins back to face Kyungsoo and, with a grin on his face, says, “I dare you to kiss Chanyeol.”Kyungsoo sighs internally.ORFive scenarios in which Kyungsoohasto kiss Chanyeol and one time he does it because hewantsto.





	Kiss, Kiss, Fall in Love!

**Author's Note:**

> This started as an HP fanfic over 10 years ago, for which I wrote 5 out of 6 chapters and never posted any of them. The plot is the same but the fic itself is completely different; I didn't reuse anything except the scenarios from that fic.
> 
> I've long loved the idea of a magical school AU, and indeed tried writing one a couple of years ago for Suho which never went anywhere (and is being rewritten for a different pairing and purpose!). I'm happy to say that this school is essentially the same from that fic, so all the research is still going to (good?) use!
> 
> The school is entirely my own, although set in the same universe, because putting a load of Korean kids in Hogwarts always makes me really uncomfortable. It's been done well with them as British Koreans, but in general it can also be done super awkwardly, and it's just easier to start from scratch. So this school is Mount Halla School of Witchcraft, set atop Mount Halla on Jeju Island. There is going to be at least one more fic set in the school, but there are options for more if I get ideas.
> 
> The Houses are as follows:
> 
> Choe Chiwon: Knowledge, intelligence & wisdom  
> Li Si: Power, courage & ambition  
> Laozi: Empathy, compassion & trust  
> Kui: Creativity, skill & talent  
> Yeon Gaesomun: Effort, strength & stamina  
> Seo Hui: Diplomacy, consideration & good communication
> 
> All the Houses are named after ancient historical figures from China or Korea, all born before the 10th century (except Kui, which is a mythological Chinese being).
> 
> Also a note about the "underage" tag: they're 16 when any naughtiness (which is very much NOT explicit) is going on. I just thought it should be tagged.

\- 1 -

 

It all begins because Lim Hyunsik likes the shared common room in the school’s left pincer.

 

Do Kyungsoo needs to borrow his Muggle Studies notes, because he was… _occupied_ (distracted by Yoo Jiae’s pretty face, to be precise) during their last class, and he now isn’t sure of the homework assignment. The best place to find Hyunsik (also known as Kyungsoo’s best friend and the only person he’d be truly comfortable copying notes from) is this common room. Hyunsik always says that the couches are nicer than in the right pincer’s common room, and _much_ nicer than the Kui common room couches.

 

So Kyungsoo heads into the common room and starts peering over the back of mostly empty chairs for Hyunsik, when Park Jaehyung—a Kui like Hyunsik, made obvious by his teal sweater vest—waves at him from his position on the floor.

 

“Hey, dude!” he says, grinning widely. Kyungsoo heads dutifully over to him.

 

“Hi, Jae,” Kyungsoo says. “What’s up?”

 

When he’s closer, he can see the ring of students, seemingly unbothered in the centre of an almost empty room. He doesn’t recognise everyone, seemingly a mixture of year groups and Houses, but there are a couple of classmates of his amongst the group; Heo Chanmi, a Li Si like himself, and Lee Sunmi, a Laozi.

 

“We’re playing Truth or Dare,” Jae says. “It’s a Muggle game—great for getting to know your fellow students. Sit down, join us.”

 

Kyungsoo looks around the room. Hyunsik isn’t anywhere, although there’s a couple of teal sweater vests indicating that there are some other Kuis in the room. Jae is also in that class—although they’re not really friends, he’ll at least know what Kyungsoo is talking about. Or he can find Hyunsik for him.

 

“I need to find Hyunsik,” he says, “but a short break is probably fine.”

 

“Excellent!” Jae claps and moves over far enough to make room for Kyungsoo, who sits down opposite Sunmi. She smiles at him, and he finds himself smiling back. Laozis are always friendly, and you often can’t help but reciprocate.

 

One of the other boys, one Kyungsoo doesn’t recognise in a dark red sweater vest—Yeon Gaesomun—places a charmed butterbeer bottle in the centre of the circle.

 

“Rules are: spin the bottle, and ask the person it lands on ‘Truth or Dare’. If they answer ‘truth’, ask a question. The bottle will light up if anybody lies. If they answer ‘dare’, give a dare. If they lie, or forfeit the dare, there’ll be a punishment,” the YG explains.

 

They start the game, spinning the bottle. Some of the other students in the room have started watching them, or keeping an eye out for Professors. It makes Kyungsoo feel a little more comfortable and confident.

 

The first few rounds are simple: everyone chooses ‘truth’. They’re asked things like: have they ever cheated, have they wondered if they’re in the wrong House, have they ever not wanted to be a witch, have they ever kissed someone of the same gender?

 

Kyungsoo is asked this last one about three rounds in. He’s a popular boy, one of the Beaters for the Li Si Quidditch team, and much better known for his athleticism than his (lack of) smarts. As such, he always has people of all genders throwing themselves at him (or at least he does now he’s fifteen). He’s kissed a few girls, but he’s never really followed through with any boys.

 

“Nah,” he says. “I haven’t.”

 

The person who asked, a girl whose black hair is dipped a bright teal (likely spelled, Kuis love that) to match her tartan pinafore, shrugs and smiles, and Kyungsoo spins the bottle, asking its recipient for the last thing to scare them.

 

Eventually, the bottle lands on a YG, who raises her head defiantly and says, “Dare,” and it’s chaos from then on.

 

Immediately, everyone tries to come up with their best possible dare at that moment in time, but also create massive amounts of gossip within the school. So there’s a lot of flirting and kissing dares, especially between people of the same gender.

 

When Jae’s bottle spins back round to Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo is expecting more of the same. Not about to be cowed, he says, “Dare,” and waits for his sentence.

 

Jae looks around the circle with careful eyes, and then turns in his seat to look around at who’s in the room. He seems to find a choice he likes, because he spins back to face Kyungsoo and, with a grin on his face, says, “I dare you to kiss Chanyeol.”

 

Kyungsoo sighs internally.

 

Park Chanyeol is a Kui who is very much the opposite of Kyungsoo in many ways. He’s a short, round-faced, chubby, geeky kid, who wears thick glasses and is extremely creative; he’s not the brightest kid in class but he’s very good at all subjects that require creativity, especially Enhanced Magic.

 

In first year he’d tried to become Kyungsoo’s friend. They were both round, stocky kids in glasses back then, so he guesses Chanyeol had thought he was something of a kindred spirit. Chanyeol had waddled up to Kyungsoo and thrust a black and white ferret in his face. “I’m the President of the Halla Ferret Fan Club!” he’d said, grinning at Kyungsoo. He’d had a gap between his front teeth at the time, and Kyungsoo had actually been a little scared of ferrets (not that he’d ever have told anyone that). Twelve-year-old Kyungsoo had shrieked internally, outwardly said, “Eww,” and all-too-quickly walked away to his newest Li Si friends, and that had been that.

 

It didn’t bode well for the rest of their schooling. They are not friends, and where Kyungsoo stopped wearing glasses once his mother taught him a spell for contact lenses, and started playing Quidditch and slimmed out, their differences grew stronger.

 

So, he’s not enthusiastic about this, but the punishment to use swearwords in one of their classes where the Professor can hear him (likely resulting in even more punishment and perhaps a _loss_ in his credibility), is, in Kyungsoo’s opinion, _much_ worse than kissing a boy he doesn’t like much and maybe being the talk of the school for a day.

 

He pushes himself to his feet and walks over to where Chanyeol’s sitting in one of the comfortable-looking armchairs, his ferret sleeping over his shoulder. His homework is spread out in front of him, but he was clearly focusing on the game instead of his papers. His eyes are wide.

 

“Let me kiss you, okay,” Kyungsoo mutters as quietly as he can.

 

Chanyeol swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He looks at Kyungsoo for a moment before nodding once.

 

Kyungsoo wastes no time, he just (ignoring the ferret) leans straight in and places his mouth against Chanyeol’s, which remains still in confusion. Kyungsoo is pretty sure Chanyeol has never kissed anyone before and it shows, but he tries relatively quickly to kiss back, moving his lips against Kyungsoo’s. His lips are a little bit chapped, but they’re warm and dry and it could be a lot worse (Kyungsoo had one kiss with an older Thai girl called Pam who, whilst utterly beautiful, kissed like a dying fish looking for its last breath. Calling their kiss _unpleasant_ would be an understatement).

 

He pulls back and raises an eyebrow at Jae, who is watching with wide, beady eyes. For a moment they just look at each other, and then Jae’s expression changes, growing defiant.

 

“Not a real kiss,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “Show us a real kiss, or face your punishment.”

 

Kyungsoo knows it isn’t fair, because he did exactly what he was told, but there are enough people in the room looking for gossip that he won’t win. So he leans back in, pressing his lips once again to Chanyeol’s warm ones.

 

There’s something in the back of Kyungsoo’s mind telling him to make it look good for the audience, so he tilts his head a little bit to fit better, holds the side of Chanyeol’s face almost gently, and touches his tongue to Chanyeol’s bottom lip, asking to kiss him the way Kang Hyeyeon kissed him earlier in the year. Chanyeol opens his mouth to gasp in surprise, and Kyungsoo takes advantage, pushing his tongue through the provided gap.

 

It’s kind of gross and slippery, the feeling of his tongue against Chanyeol’s, but there’s nothing much he can do about it. Chanyeol must work out what he’s doing after a few moments, because he actively participates, his tongue moving in sync with Kyungsoo’s.

 

They kiss for what seems like an age but is likely only mere seconds, before breaking apart. “Better?” Kyungsoo asks Jae, who is looking at him in shock.

 

“Yeah,” Jae says.

 

Kyungsoo separates fully from Chanyeol without looking at him and heads back to the circle, but Jae scrambles to his feet.

  
“We should probably finish now, it’s getting late. You wanted to know where Hyunsik was, right? I think he said he was going to have an early night. I can let him know you were looking for him?”

 

Kyungsoo sighs and nods, and leaves the room with his head held high.

 

They only gossip for about a day, and Kyungsoo decides he doesn’t care at all.

 

\- 2 -

 

Kyungsoo forgets about the kiss fairly quickly. He’s kissed enough people in the grand scheme of things that one ( _two_ ) kiss( _es_ ), requested for a game, means nothing. Chanyeol never seems to talk about it either, and so life moves on.

 

The year passes by easily in Quidditch games, lessons Kyungsoo doesn’t quite understand, a (not worth it) snog from Yoo Jiae, and absolute confusion when, nearing the end of the year, people start talking about how cool _Chanyeol_ is, when they once only talked that way about Kyungsoo.

 

This year Kyungsoo doesn’t share any classes with Chanyeol, so he doesn’t get to see the “transformation”, as he understands, until November, when his year group holds an early _happy fifteen_ birthday party for Kim Seokjin, the school’s darling, before school breaks for the six-week end-of-year winter holidays. Even at fifteen, still years from graduation, Seokjin is already Class President, and everyone loves him. Kyungsoo wasn’t going to attend the party, but even he’s weak to Seokjin’s requests (they share a dorm room; Kyungsoo would never hear the end of it if he didn’t go).

 

The party is being held in the right pincer (the less superior one, as Hyunsik would assure everyone who listened), and it’s only open to their year group, because the younger years are too young, and the older years are too snooty. Kyungsoo goes with Hyunsik, who has also been invited, and recognises several of his classmates; Cha Sunwoo (a YG who messes about and still somehow manages to be top of all his classes), Jung Eunji (Seo Hui’s vocal goddess), fellow Li Si Miyazaki Miho who’s always in the top 5 of all Music students. Some others, too.

 

He’s wandering towards the table of food the house-elves have provided ( _everyone_ loves Seokjin) when he notices a tall, gangly boy standing awkwardly at the end, surrounded by giggling students. The boy looks uncomfortable, leaning back against the table, but just seems to get himself boxed in. Kyungsoo recognises Yoo Jiae amongst the students, her pink Laozi pinafore swapped for a tennis skirt. There are two other Laozis with her, Kim Jongdae and Huang Zitao, who are both grinning at the boy.

 

Kyungsoo heads a little closer so he can see who they’re surrounding who _isn’t_ Seokjin, who he can now see with some other boys across the other side of the room. The boy looks up, and, with a shock, Kyungsoo realises that it’s _Chanyeol_.

 

Chanyeol, who is now easily half a head taller than him. He’s slimmed out now his body is more in proportion, though his ears are still enormous, his cheeks are still a little round, and he’s still wearing his thick bottle-top glasses. But he looks an awful lot better than he did last time Kyungsoo saw him back at the beginning of the year. He also doesn’t have his ferret with him, which is, in Kyungsoo’s opinion, a miracle. Apparently ferrets have a lifespan of five to ten years and any of those is too long to see a ferret. Kyungsoo still doesn’t like ferrets.

 

Kyungsoo realises he’s been looking too long when Chanyeol raises his head and their eyes meet. He looks at Kyungsoo a little hopefully, a little _pleadingly_ , but Kyungsoo does what he’s always done when it comes to Chanyeol: he turns away. Instead, he heads over to where Hyunsik’s now picking through the brownies alongside another Kui from his class.

 

If he just… _avoids_ Chanyeol, that’ll be fine. Great, even.

 

Not that it should matter whether Chanyeol’s there or not, of course. It’s Seokjin’s party.

 

The party starts thinning out a little later, after enough people have greeted Seokjin, danced, given presents, mingled. The remaining group, Kyungsoo included, decide to sit in a circle on the floor, and, in a display disturbingly familiar to Kyungsoo, a charmed butterbeer bottle is placed in the centre.

 

“Let’s play Spin the Bottle,” Seokjin says, and winks. Kyungsoo isn’t quite sure who it’s aimed at. Sometimes he thinks Seokjin, even at fourteen, just flirted with the air for the fun of it.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t know what compels him to sit down, but Chanyeol sitting down a moment later really makes him want to stand up and quit the game—but that would be obvious, and shameful, so he doesn’t. There are a couple of people who don’t join them, including one of the boys Seokjin had been talking to previously, Yoongi; a Kui with spelled pastel-teal hair. Even when Seokjin tries to goad him into joining, gently teasing him for his unsociability, Yoongi just folds his arms and looks away pointedly, sitting down in one of the nearby armchairs. A moment later, Hyunsik joins him, never really being one for teenage games.

 

Seokjin spins the bottle first, because it’s his birthday, and he’s _fifteen_ now, and Seo Yuna seems more than willing to comply, leaning into the kiss a little too enthusiastically.

 

There are easily twenty or so people taking part, and so there are discrepancies with who the bottle points to (though it’s literally the point of the spell; to stop there from being discrepancies with who is pointed at), which means the game takes a little longer than normal. Kyungsoo doesn’t get selected for a long time, nor does Chanyeol, although there are some close calls. Chanyeol looks almost relieved when Jongdae, sitting next to him, is picked over himself, and Byun Baekhyun tugs him a little closer, kisses him a little deeper, than Kyungsoo would have expected.

 

After what seems like an age but is probably only about fifteen minutes, Yoo Jiae’s spin lands on Kyungsoo.

 

If this had been a few months ago Kyungsoo would have been elated to be kissed by someone as pretty as Jiae, but as it is, he’s long decided that Jiae isn’t all that good of a kisser. But he leans in obediently when she crawls over to him, and lets her kiss him, trailing her tongue over his bottom lip before she moves back with a smile on her face. Clearly she enjoyed the mostly one-sided kiss, but Kyungsoo was, once again, somewhat bored by it. She really isn’t all that great.

 

He leans over to spin the bottle, sending it away from him with a flick of his wrist. It’s interesting how spinning the bottle could be done with a wand, yet everyone prefers to do it the Muggle way: causing repetitive strain injuries.

 

It feels like the entire circle watches the bottle as it slows its trajectory, passing Yuna, Baekhyun, Watanabe Miyuki, Evan Ma, and landing on—

 

Kyungsoo sighs as he looks up into the wide eyes of Park Chanyeol.

 

“Oh, so lucky,” a girl Kyungsoo doesn’t recognise says dreamily, and Kyungsoo isn’t sure which of them she’s referring to.

 

A game is a game, and it’s literally not the first time they’ve kissed, so Kyungsoo slides out of his place in the circle, crawls over to Chanyeol only a _little_ ungainly, and tugs Chanyeol to meet him by the back of his neck. Chanyeol goes willingly, letting Kyungsoo press his lips against his and opening up almost immediately. The kiss is surprisingly _good_ , with Chanyeol either having new experience, or muscle memory from their previous kiss. It also feels _different_ , but in a good way; Chanyeol’s fifteen-year-old face different from his fourteen-year-old one. Maybe. Kyungsoo finds himself almost ( _almost_ ) chasing Chanyeol’s lips when he leans away to breathe, but a cough from a student reminds him where he is, and he scurries back to his seat.

 

He can hear the bottle spin before he’s even reached his seat, and the rush of air as it slows down.

 

There’s a snort. “That _cannot_ be statistically likely,” Seokjin says, and Kyungsoo turns to face him to see that he’s grinning rather wickedly. He follows Seokjin’s gaze to the bottle.

 

“What the hell,” Kyungsoo says, because the bottle is pointing straight at him.

 

Chanyeol looks bug-eyed behind his glasses. “I didn’t do it on purpose!” he says, sounding more than a little flustered. For a moment, he just sits, staring at the improbability before them. Seokjin’s not wrong; the statistics of such a move definitely _can’t_ be likely. Kyungsoo can hear Ahn Heeyoun, sitting a couple of places over from him, whisper numbers as she tries to work out the probability.

 

Chanyeol’s been still for so long that Kyungsoo thinks that he won’t even honour the game mechanics, and they’ll both be forced into some kind of unnecessarily cruel punishment, but after another moment, Chanyeol pushes himself to his knees and crosses the carpet between them. Kyungsoo thought he’d be the same as him and would try to get the kiss over quicker, but Chanyeol spends a beat too long just _looking_ at him, before he leans in to kiss him, that Kyungsoo _wonders_.

 

Chanyeol is softer, when he kisses Kyungsoo first. Rather than try to snog him, he just moves his lips against Kyungsoo’s gently, but it’s not _bad_ by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it’s almost better (but not quite), and certainly better than kissing Jiae. There’s a warmth to the kiss, affection that Kyungsoo wouldn’t have expected. It’s a caring kiss, unlike their previous. And yet it’s so appealing Kyungsoo has to fight himself to keep his hands by his side because he’s so tempted to tug Chanyeol closer by the hair at the nape of his neck, to run his hands through his hair, to slide his tongue back into Chanyeol’s more than welcoming mouth.

 

And it’s _confusing_. That he would want to do that. So confusing that when Chanyeol pulls back, his hands do almost hook into Chanyeol’s belt loops to keep him in place, but he clenches his hands into fists first.

 

Once Chanyeol is safely away on the other side of the circle, his mouth a darker red than it had been before, Kyungsoo reaches out for the bottle, only for it to soar out of the way and into Seokjin’s hands.

 

“I think this bottle is cursed,” he says, although he’s still smiling. “Not that we’re not all enjoying watching two handsome and popular boys make out, this is supposed to be a group game, and I don’t really want to watch you guys kiss for the third time. Therefore we should probably end this here.”

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at the implication that the bottle would spin to land on Chanyeol again, but frankly the coincidence was enough to concern him already.

 

The circle easily disperses at those words, nobody grumbling much. Chanyeol is on his feet and out the door in moments, whilst Kyungsoo takes his time getting up. He crosses over to Hyunsik, where he and Yoongi have clearly been watching the game with eagle-eyes.

 

“Huh,” Hyunsik says. His cheeks are warm.

 

“Don’t,” Kyungsoo warns. “I’m heading back to the dorm, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

 

“Sure,” Hyunsik says. As a clear afterthought, he adds, whilst Kyungsoo is on his way over to the door, “Try not to dream about kissing tall, cute boys.” Kyungsoo can hear the grin in his voice.

 

Kyungsoo pretends not to hear him.

 

\- 3 -

 

Kyungsoo enjoys a quiet Christmas and New Year at home, and celebrates his sixteenth with his family. This is the first year of major exams, so, despite his lack of smarts, Kyungsoo finds himself studying a lot more, alongside playing Quidditch.

 

During Li Si’s first match against Kui, Kyungsoo is a little surprised to notice Chanyeol is the new Beater for the team. He doesn’t have much opportunity to assess his skills as they play against each other, but he seems to be holding his own; hitting bludgers back at him and Howon, the other Li Si Beater with a vigour Kyungsoo hadn’t expected from him.

 

When Kui beats them, Kyungsoo congratulates the team genuinely, even if it is a little bitterly.

 

Kui and Li Si haven’t shared class slots for a year now (an inconvenience for Kyungsoo, who was unable to use Hyunsik’s notes when he forgot to take his own), but this year they share Music, which Kyungsoo enjoys well enough, as it’s not a purely academic subject, and he can kind of actually _sing_. He and Chanyeol get paired together for a song project. Chanyeol accompanies Kyungsoo with a guitar and backing vocals, neither of which he’s at all bad at, and Kyungsoo realises that hey—this kid isn’t so bad after all. Maybe Chanyeol had a point, trying to befriend him back in first year. He’s determined and focused, and Kyungsoo needs that sometimes.

 

It’s easy enough to forget about the kisses they’ve shared as they hang out in the shared Common Rooms, as they progress from writing their song together, to running over class notes, to teasing each other about Quidditch moves, to just _chatting_ , and the year passes like that.

 

\---

 

Come November, the school is always covered in spelled mistletoe. Spelled, in that it can’t be removed, or tricked, and only affects students over sixteen. For those under, and for Professors, it essentially doesn’t exist.

 

This is Kyungsoo’s first year of the mistletoe counting for him, as this is the year he turned sixteen.

 

He hasn’t really kissed many people this year, but suddenly girls (and one or two opportunistic boys) pop out of the woodwork whenever he’s near a mistletoe sprig. He’s kissed ten people for the first time by the end of November, and a couple for the second or third. Hyunsik’s kissed a couple, too, and Kyungsoo’s curious about Chanyeol’s fate, so he heads to find the two Kuis in the left Pincer, where the three of them are supposed to have a study session.

 

There’s a sprig of mistletoe hanging in the doorway, and Kyungsoo is usually careful about stepping back from it to make sure nobody is leaving, but today he walks straight over to the door and opens it, the door almost smacking someone in the face. When he leans around the door to check that they’re okay, the mistletoe starts beeping, signalling that there are two eligible people underneath it.

 

“Oh, hello,” Chanyeol says, as he touches his nose, presumably to make sure it isn’t broken. “I don’t know why I was expecting someone different.”

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, but where it was once sarcastic, this is better-natured. He leans in to give Chanyeol a quick kiss, and then steps straight past him like it was nothing. “Where were you going?” he asks.

 

“I forgot my homework,” he says. “I was just going to get it. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

 

“I can walk with you,” Kyungsoo offers, and turns straight back around into the mistletoe, which starts beeping.

 

And it’s not the only time they’re caught on the walk to the Kui crab leg (the building is literally shaped like a crab, Kyungsoo doesn’t understand why). He tries to walk a step behind Chanyeol at all times, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Perhaps it’s just the general proximity, but by the time they’ve reached the Kui area, they’ve stepped under a ridiculous _seven_ more sprigs of mistletoe. Sometimes Kyungsoo kisses Chanyeol first, sometimes it’s Chanyeol. None of them are long kisses, really just brushes of their lips to satiate the mistletoe’s inexplicably human _thirst_.

 

“Maybe I should have stayed back in the common room,” Kyungsoo jokes as they pull back from a kiss—soft, like most of these—, but even he feels it fall flat. Chanyeol doesn’t say anything, just takes a wide step around the next sprig, hanging just outside of the entrance to the Kui leg, and heads inside. Kyungsoo waits around outside, wondering if he offended Chanyeol somehow. Chanyeol doesn’t speak to him when he leaves the leg either, just carries his homework back in silence.

 

If Kyungsoo orchestrates at least one kiss on the way back to the common room, just to ensure that Chanyeol’s not ignoring him, nobody has to know.

 

\---

 

They’ve been friends for a few months now, but it’s still a surprise when, in the second week of December, Kyungsoo receives an owl from Chanyeol (who has long since forgiven him for whatever he did wrong two weeks ago) asking if he wants to spend New Year’s at his house.

 

It’s easy to convince his family to let him Floo to Chanyeol’s functionless modern fireplace, because two weeks without Kyungsoo apparently sounds like a great idea to them.

 

So Kyungsoo leaves a couple of days after Christmas, taking with him some gifts for the family he’d been forced into buying or taking—soju, flowers, bodywash, that sort of thing. There’s even a bungee toy for the ferret—Chanyeol’s second, apparently, after his first, Ddori, ran away. Kyungsoo can’t tell the difference.

 

His gift for Chanyeol is a set of expensive guitar picks and replacement strings, because one had snapped recently and cut Chanyeol’s fingers when they were practising together, and he really should be _careful_.

 

When he arrives at Chanyeol’s home, suitcase in tow containing clothes and said presents, he meets Yura, Chanyeol’s older sister, for the first time. He doesn’t recognise her from school, but she’s several years older than them, and therefore would have been years above them, and he didn’t really pay attention to the older students until he turned fifteen. She seems nice enough, taking the suitcase from him and letting him get his bearings.

 

He looks around the sitting room, taking in the feel of Chanyeol’s home. It’s cosy and homely, and seems to be full of things that he doesn’t recognise—what, is this family made of muggles or something?—before he spots something he _does_.

 

“Hang on, why do you have mistletoe in your house?” Kyungsoo whines, spotting the sprig hanging down from the doorframe.

 

“It’s a tradition,” Yura says. “It’s fun! We host a New Year’s Eve party every year, and there are always people who get caught under it.”

 

Kyungsoo whines again, to Yura’s amusement. Even Chanyeol smiles a little.

 

Kyungsoo avoids the mistletoe, or being anywhere near it when someone else is around, for a solid two days until the party.

 

Chanyeol’s parents have gone out for the evening, so the party is mostly teenagers around eighteen or nineteen years old, meaning that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol are the two youngest for sure.

 

Although Kyungsoo hasn’t paid any attention to beeping noises, the mistletoe seems to be working pretty well, as there are constantly guests making out with each other underneath. He desperately doesn’t want to end up having to kiss one of these older strangers—funny how things change—so he keeps away from it, waiting for people to pass by so he can head through unscathed for a top-up on his cider (non-alcoholic, Chanyeol’s parents had been very strict about that).

 

He moves towards it carefully, and then something collides into his back and he falls under the mistletoe just as Chanyeol turns the corner, carrying a full glass. As Kyungsoo hits him, he drops the glass so it shatters over their slippered feet, and throws out one hand against the doorjamb to hold himself up, and wraps the other around Kyungsoo’s waist, trying to steady him so they don’t both fall.

 

They’ve fallen directly under the mistletoe, which hasn’t yet beeped to draw attention to them, but Kyungsoo panics and leans up to kiss him before they get an audience.

 

Their lips have barely touched when Yura says, from behind them, “Oh, you’re _that_ kind of friends, huh? I can’t say I’m entirely surprised.”

 

Chanyeol jerks back out of the kiss, almost dropping Kyungsoo in the process, who holds on tightly to Chanyeol’s upper arms. He can’t work out what’s most embarrassing about this whole situation, but Chanyeol literally dropping him to the floor in front of his sister so he lands in a pile of wet glass shards would surely be up there with the _worst_. “It’s not like that!” Chanyeol says. “It’s just—he thought it was magic mistletoe. It gets shirty if you don’t kiss.”

 

“Wait, what?” Kyungsoo says, finally steadying himself and moving away from Chanyeol. “It’s _not_ magical?”

 

“No,” Chanyeol says. “It’s just mistletoe.”

 

Kyungsoo frowns. “I don’t understand.”

 

Yura lets out a laugh from behind them, reminding Kyungsoo that she hasn’t actually left. “None of us are magical,” she says. “Except Chanyeol, he’s the first in the family. We’re all normal.”

 

Muggles, they’re—they’re _muggles_. Suddenly so many things make sense, like the weird appliances in the house, how Chanyeol’s parents never use their wands, and why he never saw Yura at Halla School. Why all the people here at this party are dressed in solely muggle clothing, when witches tend to celebrate the New Year in golden cloaks for luck. It explains why Chanyeol told him not to wear his tonight.

 

The mistletoe was _muggle mistletoe_. There wasn’t going to be any beeping. Those who had kissed had probably been couples, or people who wanted to kiss the other, because there was no reason they had to kiss at all, except human superstition.

 

Kyungsoo feels _stupid_. “Oh,” he says, not sure where to look, so he just turns to his feet, stepping back from Chanyeol to put some necessary space between them. “I’m—I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be,” Yura says. “This gave me a _great_ idea.”

 

\- 4 -

 

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them are shoved into the cupboard under the stairs. There’s the tell-tale sound of a lock turning.

 

“Seven minutes in heaven!” Yura shouts through the door, and there’s a cultish chant from some of the guests as echo.

 

Kyungsoo falls in first, and lands heavily on a layer of shoes that seem to coat the floor of the cupboard. “Ow,” he hisses, and pats around in the darkness for a clear part of the ground to sit on. A moment later, the light flickers on, a naked bulb hanging from the ceiling. The light is pale compared to _Lumos_ , but it allows Kyungsoo to see the expression on Chanyeol’s face, which seems to be resignation.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo repeats, sure that his ill-advised kiss is the result of this—whatever this is.

 

Chanyeol shrugs, and sits opposite from Kyungsoo, who has shoved shoes out of the way. The cupboard is tiny, just a cube at the back of the stairs, with one rack above for coats. Even sitting against separate walls, Chanyeol’s ankles touch Kyungsoo’s.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t know if Chanyeol wants to hear from him right now, since he’s the cause, but his curiosity gets the better of him. “What’s…Seven Minutes in Heaven for?” He’s worked out that it’s seven minutes long. Seven minutes locked in a cupboard to do _what_?

 

“Making out,” Chanyeol says. “It’s for making out. I mean, you can do other things without eye-witnesses. I think two of Yura’s classmates were discovered _doing it_ during Seven Minutes in Heaven once. Must have been super embarrassing. But yeah, making out.”

 

“Oh,” Kyungsoo says, looking down at where their ankles touch.

 

They sit in silence for a minute or so. Kyungsoo’s mind is overactive, rolling around _making out_ like a carousel. Making out. It wouldn’t be new. They’ve done it _before_. But the timing. The timing is poor.

 

“Do you think she can tell we’re not?” Kyungsoo says, before he can think about what he’s saying. “Do you think they care?”

 

Chanyeol shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says. “But…” He looks up at Kyungsoo for a moment, and then away again. “No, that’s a bad idea,” he mutters.

 

“What?” Kyungsoo asks.

 

“What’s the best kiss you’ve ever had?” Chanyeol asks, which presumably wasn’t what he was going to say, but okay.

 

Now, Kyungsoo could immediately tell you what the worst kiss he’s ever had was (despite Pam’s dead fish lips, it’s probably still Jiae’s kiss of utmost boredom), but _best_ kiss takes him a little longer.

 

He’s had lots of kisses, from girls, from boys. He’s given gentle closed-mouth kisses and deep snogs. He’s touched bodies over clothes (though never under; never the time or the appropriate place for it), adding to the sensation, and been touched in return in the same way. He’s had great kisses and lukewarm ones.

 

He liked kissing Hyeyeon. He liked kissing He Xiayu, and Kim Ahyoung, and Wu Jiacheng, and Muto Tomu.

 

He also can’t pretend that he hasn’t enjoyed kissing Chanyeol. For someone who had probably never been kissed before their first, his enthusiasm had been better than some other people Kyungsoo has kissed, and his skills and enthusiasm have remained good since. But it’s too embarrassing to admit that to him.

 

So he smiles softly and says, “That’s a secret. I’ve had a few good ones, I won’t tell you with who. But snogs, if done right, can be really great.”

 

“Oh,” Chanyeol says. “I…don’t laugh, but I haven’t really had much experience of those.”

 

That’s a surprise. Chanyeol is so popular, Kyungsoo would have thought he was constantly making out with people. Kyungsoo’s almost offended on his behalf.

 

It’s out of Kyungsoo’s mouth before he can stop it, escaping like word vomit. “Do you want help with changing that?” His cheeks heat up with embarrassment before he’s even finished speaking. “Oh God—” He looks away immediately.

 

There’s another beat. They’ve probably spent a good four minutes of their seven just…not doing anything. What a waste.

 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, and then louder, “Yeah. If that’s an offer, I’ll take it.”

 

Kyungsoo is so surprised he can’t even move, until Chanyeol says, “I think we’ve got about two minutes before they’re supposed to unlock the door.” This spurs movement, and Kyungsoo gets onto his knees and moves the two paces to straddle Chanyeol’s legs, and then he just _goes_ for it.

 

He slides into Chanyeol’s lap, grips the back of his head in one hand, and brings their mouths together _properly_.

 

They just kiss for a moment, mouths moving together, before Kyungsoo traces his tongue against Chanyeol’s lip the way he did _two years ago_ , and Chanyeol lets him in just as easily as he did back then.

 

Tasting the inside of someone else’s mouth is always an experience, but Chanyeol mostly just tastes clean and minty, like he’d brushed his teeth recently. Kyungsoo probably tastes of apples. It could be worse, he thinks.

 

Kyungsoo’s hands roam over Chanyeol’s body; the hand on his neck sliding into his hair, and the other tracing his side, his muscles, his hips. Moving himself even closer. A moment later, Chanyeol does the same, tugging Kyungsoo so that he’s flush against his stomach, an arm rubbing against his hip. The feeling is so warm and comforting and yet so completely incongruous with the way they’re kissing like they need to be attached in order to breathe.

 

They kiss, and kiss, and kiss, time seemingly meaningless. Kyungsoo has started feeling uncomfortably warm in his nether regions, and kind of wants to _do_ something about it, but that would be embarrassing, and also _way_ too much thinking for right now.

 

They’ve barely pulled back to breathe, when there’s a clunk of the key in the cupboard door turning. Kyungsoo attempts to launch himself away from Chanyeol, but just ends up splayed out on the bed of shoes. He places an arm over his face in a desperate attempt to hide at least part of the evidence, although he thinks it’s probably fairly obvious anyway.

 

“It’s been, like, ten minutes,” Yura says, opening the door and peering inside. “We forgot about you for a moment. Oh, good, you’re both decent. It’s after eleven, the fireworks are going to be prepared soon.”

 

“Great,” Chanyeol says.

 

Kyungsoo is too wired to say anything. Instead, he scrambles to his feet and heads out of the cupboard in a scurry, desperate to find somewhere to shelter from both Chanyeol and his own treacherous, pounding heart.

 

It was a really good kiss.

 

Might have been the best.

 

\- 5 -

 

It’s only ten minutes to midnight and Kyungsoo has been avoiding Chanyeol after that specific kiss for the past forty minutes. Unfortunately, he didn’t choose a very good place to hide, as Chanyeol opens the door to his bedroom, where Kyungsoo has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and pokes his head around it. Kyungsoo immediately pretends to be looking through his suitcase for his golden cloak, although moments earlier he’d actually been half-buried inside the bed. Chanyeol’s ferret is asleep in its bed the way it has been for much of this visit. He’d think it were dead if he hadn’t seen it play with his gift just this morning.

 

“Oh, there you are!” Chanyeol says, and smiles, like he didn’t just have Kyungsoo in his lap, and Kyungsoo’s tongue in his mouth, not even an hour ago. Like that wasn’t due to Kyungsoo’s ineptitude when it comes to muggle concepts. Like Kyungsoo isn’t as embarrassing as he thinks he is.

 

Kyungsoo can’t work out why Chanyeol’s not embarrassed.

 

“You were looking for me?” Kyungsoo asks, trying not to show his surprise.

 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, and the smile drops from his face. He looks—nervous. Really nervous. “They, uh, they say that the first person you see at the start of the year sets the tone for the rest of the year,” he continues, looking down at his feet. “I don’t want it to be one of them. And we’re all—we’re supposed to have a New Year’s kiss. And I know we literally just kissed, but…uh, will you kiss me? Again?”

 

Kyungsoo blinks. “Me?” he asks, for clarification. It’s the first time either of them has really acknowledged it out loud. It’s the first time one of them has really _asked_.

 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, softly. “If that’s okay.”

 

“Uh,” Kyungsoo says, because he hadn’t expected _this_. They’ve kissed more times than he can even count at this point in time, and they’ve just had one _amazing_ snog session, but it doesn’t make it any less strange to just be asked outright. But he…he _likes_ kissing Chanyeol. “Sure? Okay,” he says, trying not to make it look too obvious that he’s kind of _excited_ for this.

 

Chanyeol looks up and gives him a small smile, looking relieved. “That’s great,” he says, and he heads over to his bedroom window. “If you come here, we can see the fireworks.”

 

Kyungsoo grabs the golden cloak and ties it around his neck as he pulls himself to his feet and heads over.

 

They stare out at the night sky in silence.

 

“I’m not sorry,” Chanyeol says, suddenly. “About the mistletoe. You keep apologising, but like—it’s fine. I didn’t tell you it wasn’t magical. You weren’t to know. You’re pure-blooded, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo says.

 

“I had no idea magic existed before Halla School contacted us. The last few years have been a whirlwind. But it must have been different for you. Did you always know you were going to go?”

 

“Yeah, I knew,” Kyungsoo says. “My family’s always been surrounded by magic. I learnt to fly a broom when I was four. I had a tiny baby broom, it was this long.” He gestures, moving his hands a little over half a metre from each other. “It was really great, it was fast, but maybe that’s my memory speaking? I’ve always been good at Quidditch, I think I was destined to play.” When he looks up, Chanyeol is smiling down at him. He looks…kind of fond, if Kyungsoo had to pick a feeling. “Oh, uh—”

 

Chanyeol keeps smiling. “Don’t stop, it’s nice to see how happy Quidditch makes you, you look free like this. It makes me happy, too. I started playing because of how happy you seem.”

 

That’s—that’s not something Kyungsoo knew. It has never come up in conversation before, even though they’ve been friends for a little while now. “Huh,” he says. “Am I really that big of an influence on you?”

 

Chanyeol chuckles, and opens his mouth to respond, when there’s a loud “TEN!” shout from downstairs, starting the countdown.

 

Kyungsoo has strangely sweaty palms. He rubs them against the material of his trousers, before turning to face Chanyeol. They just—look in silence at each other, until the first fireworks are let off, and Chanyeol reaches out to tug Kyungsoo closer to him, and kisses him.

 

Like all of the kisses Chanyeol has instigated, it’s soft, affectionate. They break apart after a second, but Kyungsoo doesn’t want to stop, so he presses back into Chanyeol, being just as gentle in return, but scrunching up Chanyeol’s shirt in his hands to keep him close. He almost has to step on Chanyeol’s feet to reach him at his full height, so he pushes him backwards, towards the bed, trying not to let go of him for too long.

 

Chanyeol sits, and Kyungsoo puts one knee on the bed to reach him better. The whole time they trade soft kisses, none of them getting any deeper.

 

After what seems like an age, Chanyeol tugs Kyungsoo towards him and tips over on his side, so both of them fall to lie on the bed next to each other. They just look at each other for a moment.

 

“Happy New Year,” Chanyeol whispers, and Kyungsoo just lets himself smile back.

 

\- 6 -

 

They don’t talk about it. They never do—talk about the kisses. They just happen, and then they move on with their lives.

 

But…Kyungsoo kind of doesn’t want to. Because he _likes_ kissing Chanyeol, and he kind of wants to be able to _keep_ kissing him.

 

It’s the day before he’s to head back home for the last couple of days before school starts again. His birthday is in a week, and he’s made the resolution to be more honest, as a seventeen-year-old.

 

So he corners Chanyeol in his room, where there’s no audience. Where there’s nobody else around.

 

“Um,” he says, standing at the foot of the bed, where Chanyeol is sat stringing his guitar with Kyungsoo’s gift. “Thanks for inviting me. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

 

Chanyeol looks up and smiles at him. “It’s been no problem,” he says. “But you’re not leaving until tomorrow, right? Why does it sound like a goodbye?”

 

“It’s not meant to,” Kyungsoo rushes out. “But just…being here with you has made me realise some things.”

 

“Like what?” Chanyeol asks, interest clearly piqued. He puts the guitar back on its stand, giving Kyungsoo his full attention.

 

Kyungsoo deflates. Chanyeol’s attention is intimidating. At least when he’s stringing his guitar and only half-caring about what Kyungsoo’s talking about, he could pretend to have said something different. If this doesn’t go well.

 

“Uh,” Kyungsoo says, clasping his hands in front of him. If he doesn’t say it now, he’s not going to. “The kisses.”

 

Chanyeol’s face closes off immediately, and he leans over to pick his ferret up from where it’s lying on his pillow. He chucks it under the chin and doesn’t look at Kyungsoo. “What about them?”

 

Kyungsoo was next going to ask how Chanyeol feels about them, but he feels like Chanyeol’s behaviour is already an indicator. “I…I like them,” he says, instead.

 

Chanyeol’s head jerks up. “You do?” he asks.

 

“Um, yeah,” Kyungsoo says.

 

“You’re not messing with me?” Chanyeol looks frantic. He stops stroking his ferret and moves it to the bed beside him.

 

“No? Why would I—?”

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Chanyeol tugs Kyungsoo down by the front of his shirt and kisses him.

 

There’s no excuse for it this time. They weren’t dared to kiss, or forced. It’s not a game. It’s not a tradition.

 

Kyungsoo kisses back; slow, lazy. Their mouths move in tandem, trading kisses whilst working together. This time, when the kiss deepens, it’s Chanyeol’s turn to ask for entrance, and you’d think he wouldn’t, but Kyungsoo is surprisingly perfectly fine with letting him lead the kiss for once. Their tongues explore each other’s mouths not for the first time, and, apparently, not the last.

 

Chanyeol pulls Kyungsoo down over him, as he moves back onto the bed, and the kiss deepens even more, quickening, growing frantic. Kyungsoo pants into Chanyeol’s mouth, touching him wherever he can—hair, neck, shoulders, waist, thighs. Chanyeol’s hands end up on Kyungsoo’s lower back, moving him closer, so that their bodies are flush.

 

The warmth, the affection, the headiness, is doing a number on Kyungsoo, who feels himself harden in his trousers. There’s an answering warmth against his thigh, and he finds himself bucking towards it, trying to build friction, make it feel _better_. Chanyeol’s clearly doing the same, rocking his body against Kyungsoo’s body, getting faster, as do their mouths, their tongues, their hands. Chanyeol’s hands creep down until they’re against his bottom, tugging him down that way for more satisfaction.

 

It works, a crescendo of feeling working its way through Kyungsoo, who pants heavily into Chanyeol’s mouth. A moment later there’s an answering whine from Chanyeol, and the kiss gets lazier with exhaustion. Kyungsoo rolls off Chanyeol, landing next to him on the bed (and being careful not to land on the ferret).

 

They lie there in silence for a moment, trousers sticky, breath heavy, but ultimately _pleased_.

 

Eventually, the silence has to break. “D’you wanna keep kissing once we’re back at school? No matter what people think?” Chanyeol asks.

 

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo says. “Yeah, I do.”

 

“Great,” Chanyeol says with a smile, and leans over to give him a quick peck on the lips. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> So uh I've been working on this for a while but only really wrote it this past week, so there might be weird bits in it, or inconsistencies, because my kind of beta reading is staring at something until I work out why it doesn't make sense, or I get bored. I knew if I didn't just immediately post it I'd sit on it and never post it. If you notice any mistakes, just let me know and I'll fix them.
> 
> Thanks!


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